Why/How would a bp end up with a mouthful of substrate?

[Schlyne]

I went into my herp room to check on my crestie and see if he's eating. After watching him for a few minutes with the infra red lamp borrowed from issa's cage, I went to turn on the light so I could mist everybody. As I'm setting down the heat lamp on Issa's screen, he yawned.

I thought well that didn't look like a normal yawn, and then his lower jaw didn't seem to be fitting normally. He had a mouth full of substrate! :shock:

It was all sticky and wet..I have no idea why did he this, or how it happened. :roll:

I very very gently helped him open up a little and got some of it out. Poor guy, he was very stressed by not being able to completely close his mouth and me trying to help him. I didn't try to get it all out, once he could completely close his mouth and he did a few tounge flickers, I very carefully put him back in his cage so he could slide back into his hide.

I hope he doesn't regurge..he was fed yesterday. I don't feed him in his cage, so why or how would he end up with a mouthful of his expandable stuff? (I am so switching to newspaper once I get rid of this other stuff).

I'm hoping he's going to be ok.

[Kara]

He may have scooped some into his mouth by pushing against the bottom of the cage to re-align his jaw after swallowing.

I take it you're using some sort of coco husk bedding (you mentioned it was "expanding stuff" and that was the only product I could think of).

At this point, it's probably nothing to sweat. A little bit of coco husk isn't going to hurt the snake unless he just rubs his mouth raw trying to get it out. DON'T PANIC!! He's probably not going to rub his mouth raw (knock on wood). Take a deep breath, relax, and leave him be, at least overnight...although I know it will be tempting to keep checking on him. For future reference, using a q-tip is a great way to dislodge substrate that gets stuck in your snake's mouth.

Make sure he has plenty of fresh water & just give him some downtime. You're probably getting more stress from this than he is as a concerned snake-parent.

RELAX!

K

[hhw]

I'm gonna go out on a limb here, but I would check to see if she has a respiratory infection. Normally, a ball python can work substrate out of their mouth or just plain swallow what little they get in perfectly fine. However, when it has a respiratory infection, it can quite easily get a mouthful of substrate and not be able to remove it itself. Check to see if her tongue is forked properly when she flicks it, and that the fork is not stuck together. Another telltale sign would be any bubbling at the nose, or any wheezing. If you don't see any of these, but it gets substrate stuck in its mouth again, carefully and gently check for any mucus in the mouth or throat as you help it remove the substrate.

Now, it could just be a one time substrate thing, so I'm not saying at all that it must be an RI, so don't stress out and rush off to a vet. If you see any of the signs I mentioned or it does get substrate stuck again in the near future, then it definitely is worth investigating to see if it's an RI.

[Schlyne]

I would be very shocked if it were an RI, since he went to the vet right before he shed.

He probably would have been able to get the substrate out on his own, I think I happened to catch him as he was working on it getting it out.

He's fine this morning. Slither Slither, tongue flicker, tongue flicker. Tongue fork looks fine.

I will definately keep an eye on him and see if he shows any signs of RI and then I'll get him back tot he vet.

[hhw]

Good to hear that it doesn't seem like an RI. I just thought it wouldn't hurt to look out for the signs I was talking about, just in case it was.

[sk8er4life]

geez whats up w/all these bps now adays! first it was the paper towels, now this! whats happening to the world?lol

[Schlyne]

All the pets have conspired against me. Nebula wants to be jealous and grab all my attention or trip me. Issa wanted to see if i would have a heart attack in front of him. The crestie wants me to worry about it, and Butter's wants to hide so much I wonder if she's okay

Just kidding. As I understand it, milk snakes hide all the time. Obviously, I've had the crestie for a whopping 2 days. Nebula doesn't get to sleep with me anymore (Butters lives in my bedroom, since the humdity is lower than it is in the "herp room"), and she would like more attention. And...this is the most stressful semster I've ever had, and I've basically got a month left to try and pack everything in.